9. What happens between 1920 and 1930 in America?

The "Roaring Twenties," which really covered the years from about 1923 through late 1929, are significant in three ways: 1) Creating the economic conditions that led to the Great Depression and the eventual takeover of the economy and society by the government; 2) the emergence of a consumer society; and 3) the emergence of self-awareness and the culture of self. These elements significantly contributed to the 1920s' "roar." I'll merely touch on the broad strokes. The 1920s are remembered as a decade of a booming economy and stock market; it looked as though even the shoe shine boy had his investments and insider knowledge at this time. However, the Federal Reserve assisted and supported the government's inflationary and expansionist economic strategy, which was the driving force behind it. When the economy could no longer sustain the artificially generated inflation and expansion, it corrected in a fashion that was just as vigorous as the expansion had been, which helped pave the way for the Great Depression. Businesses were seeking for methods to benefit from the prosperity while being shielded from the hardships of free market competition at the same time. They initially attempted setting up voluntary groups to control labor, pricing, and output. However, there were always rivals who refused to abide by the voluntary restrictions. Business eventually turned to the government's coercive authority, and by the late 1920s the administrative state—government control of business and industry—was growing from an early stage that had started in the decade leading up to the Great War. The interplay between the administrative state and the Great Depression paved the way for the economic system that emerged during FDR's administration and that we still use today. In other words, although business had an impact on politics, the government—the State—took more control over the economy and society at large. These days, we perceive such government interference in our lives as normal and advantageous. Due to the fact that the 1920s were the final period in which the economy and the people had complete authority over their lives, they are regarded as a "roaring" and even lawless time. The booming consumer economy was one of the side consequences of the 1920s' booming economy. Consumer products had been accessible for several decades, but with the introduction of mass manufacturing and widespread electricity, they became commonplace. Homes were loaded with everything from refrigerators to Victrolas to vacuum cleaners. And while you weren't at home, you were presumably driving your automobile for the first time. Ford built more than two million Model Ts in a single year. That was the highest yearly output of an automobile until the 1950s, and the highest annual production of Model Ts wasn't surpassed until 1972. (Volkwagen Beetle). Cutting cloth on the bias was one of the little-known innovations that altered fashion. The bias cut made it possible for clothing to drape naturally over the body, replacing the stylized designs of earlier eras with the sheer and far simpler clothing of the Twenties. (Consider a "flapper," and the bias-cut fabric that allowed for the A-line, knee-length, drop waist dress.) Therefore, in the 1920s, individuals had access to— and could afford—things beyond the essentials of existence for truly the first time. When the Great Depression began, the unexpected disappearance of items that the people had grown accustomed to made life worse—at least mentally. And the broad availability of consumer goods was, and continues to be, a hallmark of the period of prosperity that followed World War II. The shift in how individuals regarded themselves, though, was arguably the most astounding development of the 1920s. The writings of Freud and others were becoming more popular. Identification and introspection entered common thought. In fact, a large portion of 20s culture—consumerism (including stocks), seeming nihilism—could be viewed as a quest for self-discovery. The idea of personal struggle and suffering expanded widely via literature. After the Great Depression, socialism and communism resurfaced. The idea that the person is the fundamental building block of society was revived in the 1920s, and it has since shaped our culture, society, economy, and politics. Therefore, the Roaring Twenties were significant because it was at this time that the ideas of big government, consumerism, and individualism—along with all the accompanying tensions and contradictions—were established.

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